Celebrate, Stephen! You have much to look forward to. You also have much for which to be grateful, including the fact that you have completed forty years. Pergolesi, Chopin, Schubert, Mendelssohn, and Mozart, among others, didn’t get to do that.

I wish I’d known in advance, youngster. A few years back, on the occasion of her 40th birthday, I gave a friend my copy of Judith Viorst’s “How Did I Get To Be 40, And Other Atrocities.” I could have looked for a copy for you.